IN BRIEF/WASHINGTON, D.C.

Secret Service Takes Duck Under Its Wing

The Secret Service has a new duty -- protecting a mother duck and her nine eggs.

The duck, a brown mallard with white markings, has built a nest in a mulch pile at the entrance to the Treasury Department on Pennsylvania Avenue.

The Secret Service's uniformed division, which provides protection for the White House and Treasury building, has set up metal guard rails to protect the nest. "Foreign leaders, members of Congress, everybody who visits Treasury has to pass by the duck," said Treasury spokesman Rob Nichols.